


Take A Breath

by DefaltManifesto



Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII Series
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Post-Canon, Slight Canon Divergence, Spoilers for FFXIII
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-30
Updated: 2014-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-11 02:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2049708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefaltManifesto/pseuds/DefaltManifesto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Vanille and Fang save Cocoon, Sazh and Dajh go to pay their respects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take A Breath

**Author's Note:**

> Short drabble. I know I should be writing the Pac Rim fic but whoops. I have another FFXIII drabbl planned for some point today. Not sure when. Title taken from the Sunleth Waterscape theme.

[The tumblr](http://schizzar.tumblr.com)

 

Sazh helped Dajh off his shoulders and onto the ground. He immediately ran to the water's edge, peering at his reflection in the clear water while Sazh gave a cursory glance around to make sure there were no enemies. Once he was certain, Sazh took a seat down beside him.

"What is this place, Daddy?" Dajh asked.

"It's the Sunleth Waterscape. It's where they used to do the weather experiments," Sazh said.

Dajh sat down and pulled the still unnamed chocobo chick out of his hair, which had decided to make its home there ever since Sazh had reunited with his son.

"Did you come here with Vanille?" Dajh asked.

It was a valid question. Every since Cocoon had almost fallen, only to be rescued at the last second by Fang and Vanille's sacrifice, Sazh had been taking Dajh to all the places he had seen with Vanille. Well, as many as he could. The Sunleth Waterscape was still intact, but the Hanging Edge was too dangerous and Nautilus was still being repaired after the damage of Cocoon nearly falling to Gran Pulse. He had taken Dajh to Gran Pulse though.

Over the last few months, patrols of ex-military personnel formed groups to try and tame the area and make it as safe as possible for those who were still evacuating Cocoon. Sazh wasn't sure if it was going to be abandoned; it was hard to tell, given the way society was still not sure how to move forward. Either way, Pulse was safer for him to travel across with Dajh, especially since it was easy to fall in with a group of soldiers or migrants for added protection.

"Will I ever get to meet her?" Dajh asked, looking up at him.

Sazh looked back further into the depths of the Sunleth Waterscape. That was far more dangerous than where they currently were, but he was pretty sure he could get Dajh to where he wanted.

"Sort of. Come on," Sazh said.

He got to his feet and picked Dajh back up so he could rest on his shoulders like he had before. He began to the trek up the winding trail, skirting around the edges of the Scalebeast's sight of vision. Dajh didn't seem afraid at all of the large beasts, too young and despite everything still too innocent to realize his father couldn't always protect him from everything. Sazh would do what he could to protect that naiveté.

The cave mouth at the top of the winding path opened up to an odd tangle of treetops and cliff faces and waterfalls. Dajh seemed awed, leaning on his father's head and pointing at different flowers and fauna as he bounced excitedly and the chocobo chick trilled his agreement. It reminded Sazh of Vanille's excitement. She, like Dajh, had managed to retain an air of innocence and wonder despite everything she had experienced.

Near the middle, the ground began to turn to crystal and Sazh let Dajh down and held onto his hand instead so if he slipped he wouldn't hurt Dajh in the process. The trees became more distant and spread out as they walked until finally they were standing at the base of a large, spiny crystal spire, slicing up through Cocoon to hold it up. Dajh went silent and Sazh took a deep breath, trying to think passed the dull ache in his heart as he stared up at the spire.

"Vanille's in there, Dajh," Sazh said, squeezing Dajh's shoulder. "She's holding us up. Her and Fang. They're sleeping."  

"Like mom?" Dajh's voice trembled a bit and Sazh was quick to kneel down so they were at eye level with one another.

"No, no, Vanille and Fang, they've got eternal life together in there," Sazh said. "And they would be happy to know that we're going to do our best to live a good full life, just for them."

Dajh smiled. "Okay. Let's do that! I want to make her happy."

"Me too," Sazh said, standing back up.

Dajh stretched his arms up and Sazh caved, picking him up and placing him on his shoulders once more.

_Me too._


End file.
